Radschool Association Newsletter

Radschool Association Newsletter - Vol 10

Next reunion - 27 April 2003

10 April 2002

Page 11

Ken Heyes in front of "Carols" bar, one of the many in Vung Tau that relied on the blokes from the base for a living. This one was a favourite haunt being just down the road from the base, on the road into "town".

Ron Clayton

Ron Clayton who was on 17Appy many moons ago, and who now lives over in the West, saw our previous edition, and decided to drop us a line. He says when he saw the photo on page 10 in Vol 9 it brought back a heap of memories, as he was in the exact same photo which was taken in 1969. Allan George, who is always a regular and reliable behind the scenes contributor to the newsletter sent us the 1969 photo, and we include it opposite, and sure enough, there’s Ron top right-hiding.

Allan was not 100% sure of the names in his photo, but we reckon we’ve got most of them. For those that we’ve got wrong, as the bar girls would say-choi duc!

Ron noticed the reference to "Cheap Charlie" in Vol 9, and he sent us the words to the song the girls used to sing.

Uc Dai Loi cheap Charlie,
He no buy me Saigon Tea,
Saigon Tea cost many many Pi,
Uc Dai Loi he Cheap Charlie.

Uc Dai Loi cheap Charlie,
He no give me MPC
MPC costs many many Pi
Uc Dai Loi he Cheap Charlie.

Uc Dai Loi cheap Charlie,
He no go to bed with me,
For it cost him many many Pi
Uc Dai Loi he Cheap Charlie.

Uc Dai Loi cheap Charlie,
Make me give him one for free
Mam-a-san go crook at me
Uc Dai Loi he Cheap Charlie.

Uc Dai Loi cheap Charlie,
He give baby-san to me
Baby-san cost many many Pi
Uc Dai Loi he Cheap Charlie.

Uc Dai Loi cheap Charlie,
He go home across the sea
Him leave baby-san with me
Uc Dai Loi he Cheap Charlie.

It’s sung to the tune of "This old man" and was very popular down town. Ron doesn’t know the origin.

Things to do in K-Mart. Walk into the fitting room and shout out as loud as you can " Hey - there’s no toilet paper in here"

Bob Meyer with John Boyne at the Tucker Box near Gundagi, NSW

Bob Meyer (right) with John Boyne (elec) at the Tucker Box near Gundagi, NSW, in Oct 67. (That’s a real live Morris 1100)

Bob Meyer, one time RAAF instrument fitter at large (1965-1971), has been with Comalco in northern Tasmania since his "D", in fact he’s been there so long they’ve made him an honorary Tasmanian but they’re having trouble getting the other head to stick. He was recently dispatched to Brisbane on detachment and will be in the nation’s capital city until October/November - just in time to head back to Tassie when it starts to warm up. Bob spent a year with 35Sqn, (1969-1970) and while there was involved in an accident resulting in a few days in the Army hospital at Back Beach. He just happened to be in hospital with all the poor Army blokes who had been dusted from the bush, most in a pretty crook state, at the time that the RAAF chief doc was in country doing an inspection of the medical facilities. Being RAAF, the chief doc gravitated to Bob who was lying up in bed with his head all bandaged up. "What happened to you son?’ says the Doc, thinking the worst. "Got hit in the head with a surf board Sir" says Bob. He didn’t make a lot of friends amongst the Army blokes....

Back Beach R & C centre where Bob "copped it"

Anyway, about this time he asked the RAAF if he could drive some of their aeroplanes, and the RAAF said sure, only trouble was, just before they sent him off to Pt Cook to learn, they found he was blind in one eye and couldn’t see out the other.

This really stuffed Bob’s plans, so he told Mr Air Force what he could do with his job and headed for Tassie. If you knew Bob and would like to catch up again give us a call and we’ll put you in touch. We reckon he’d love one or six on a Friday night.

We don't usually do this, but if you want to see something like "real weird man", have a look at http://www.realultimatepower.net/

Page 11